Fallout: The Michigan Wasteland
by Master Derek
Summary: John Martin a former Vault Dweller and his friends face the cruel and harsh wastes of eastern Michigan. Encountering many strange creatures, people, and factions.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N After a long wait I finally give you Fallout: The Michigan Wasteland. My newest story and my first non TDHC story. I hope you like it as I've been working so hard on it to make it good even getting Betas and editors. That's a pain in the ass when you have dial-up internet. But anyway here you go. (Due to time constraints the first chapter has had to go without editing and only one beta read)**

**A Master Derek Fanfiction**

**In Association with**

**Lucky Dog Productions**

**Based on the Video Game **

**'Fallout' **

**And the Upcoming Web series **

**'Fallout: Toxic Revolution**

**Fallout: The Michigan Wasteland**

**Written by Master Derek**

**Beta read by Spirit of Azure**

**Edited by Kyler Linderman (Areyouhomestuck Tumblr)**

**Disclaimer: The Factions, References, History, and Some setting do not belong to me. They belong to their respected owners (Bethesda Softworks)**

**Prologue**

War, war never changes.

That saying has been used throughout the post-war world. Humans continue to fight there petty fights and skirmishes but where does it lead? In 2077 it led to the destruction of human civilization in the form of nuclear war. The after effects were devastating Billions died. But it was not as most believed it would be. Humanity did indeed survive the nuclear exchange. They did so in underground fallout bunkers known as vaults. The vaults saved thousands from the horrors that occurred on the surface. People were mutated beyond belief and those that survived unscathed had to face radiation, raiders, bandits, and other atrocities that rose from the ashes of nuclear fire.

But not all hope was lost. The United States government had survived. However some were misguided into having to purge the wasteland of mutant people and all who were exposed to the wasteland such as the West and East Coast 'Enclave'. But the heartland Enclave based out of Chicago who have captured places like Detroit, Grand Rapids, Columbus, Lansing and other Northwest Territory cities are not like those on the coasts. That's why they haven't been destroyed by people in the wastes like the West and East.

And now let's go back to the vaults. More specifically Vault 42. Vault 42 was rumored to have specific light Voltage adjustments. But that's not as true as was thought. This vault had opened long ago but by the wishes of the inhabitants was sealed again after an accident. This is where our story begins…..

**Chapter 1**

A man with jet black hair in Vault security armor minus the helmet but was wearing some awesome shades was strolling through the Vault atrium when he noticed a delinquent teen spray painting 'The Overseer is a tramp' on a wall in the atrium.

"Hey you!"

The atrium was all grey with many pillars connecting the ceiling to the floor. On the far side of the room was a magnetically locked door that led to the Vault's ceiled outer door. Other doors in this room branched off into the other sections of the vault like the living quarters, security offices, Cafeteria, and the overseer's office.

"What you want holms?" The boy replied without looking.

"To stop defacing our dear vault and come with me to see the Overseer."

The boy turned around and found himself face to face with the security guard. He was holding a night stick.

"Shi-" He was knocked to the floor before he could even think about running away.

The security guard threw the boy over his shoulders and walked through a door on the right side of the atrium and to the end of the hall was an elevator. The guard entered the elevator dragging the kid along with him. He pushed the top button and the elevator lurched. The boy kicked and screamed the whole way.

"You should stop trying to fight it, Joseph. You can't fight the will of the Overseer."

"Oh shove it. What about the exodus? They won."

"A bunch of people who fought there way out of a safe place to live? What kind of victory is that?"

"Shut up John, you're always busting my balls about something or another."

The elevator doors parted and revealed Overseer Beverly Jones. She wore a normal Vault 42 Jump suit like everyone else who wasn't security. She had long blond hair that curved over her shoulders. She was hard at work typing on her computer. She looked up.

"Hello Joseph. Hello John."

"Hey mom." Joseph replied with a sigh.

"Hello Overseer Jones." John said with an almost military attitude.

"What did Joseph do this time?"

"He spray painted 'the overseer is a tramp' on the wall of the atrium."

"Joseph, why did you vandalize the atrium?"

"Because you a ho."

"Ok then; John take him to the brig he's under lock down until further notice."

"Yes ma'am."

John took Joseph back into the elevator and placed handcuffs on the kid and activated the elevator. Joseph stayed quiet this time and john held is hand firmly on the handcuffs.

The elevator opened and John carried Joseph into the security office where Sgt. Williams was looking over the reports on his terminal. He looked up off of his computer.

"Overseer's kid again?"

"Yeah; sprayed some graffiti in the atrium."

Another security guard grabbed the kid and escorted him to the brig. He kicked and bit but the guard kept him under control.

"Snarly one ain't he Williams?"

"Yeah; fifth time he's been here this week. I'll recommend we get the vault's counselor to talk to him after I file this report. You're off duty, Martin. Go get yourself a sandwich or something for dinner."

"Thank you sir." John replied

"Don't mention it. See you tomorrow."

John quickly jogged to his dorm and swapped his security barding for a vault jumpsuit but he kept the sunglasses for style. He then walked his way into the cafeteria where he noticed a table with 6 of John's friends sitting there laughing and drinking Nuka-Cola.

"So this one chick was all like 'oh man my nail got chipped' and I was all like 'so' and she was like 'MY BEAUTIFUL NAILS!' Then she feinted."

"You're an idiot Anthony." Guard Sam Vasquez told Anthony.

"Yeah well, women."

"What's up guys?" John asked as he sat down next to his buddies.

"Nothing. We're all completely board."

"Wanna go bug Lindsay?" Sam Vasquez said.

"Sure." Eli Freeman replied.

"How about you John? Wanna go screw with her?" Anthony asked.

"Nah. I'm gonna eat and hit the hay. Got first shift tomorrow."

"Man you need a day off."

"I do. I get Sunday and Monday off. Today's Wednesday."

"Ok call us when you get promoted to head of security!" Anthony called as he left the cafeteria.

"That's the plan!" John called back.

John stood up and walked into line in front of the vending machine.

The entire vault was self sufficient. Everything was recycled. Fecal matter, urine, trash, and even corpses were recycled using patented Vault-Tec recycle-o-matic recycler which turned anything you put into it into a type of matter which could be shaped into other matter. Like food and spare parts. Water was pumped in from wells, rivers, and even from the great lakes and purified using the Vault's water chip. Man it would be terribly bad if the water chip broke. That would mean they would have to send someone out into the wastes to find another. John would feel sorry for the one who had to scour the wastes to find one.

The key is to not think about where the food comes from knowing it's from recycled waste and dead people and garbage. But it was either that or build a massive underground farm which probably would've taken Vault-Tec too much time to erect.

John retrieved his freeze dried Carrots and tofu from the vending machine and proceeded to the cafeteria table Anthony and the others sat at.

John didn't have many friends growing up. It was usually just Anthony and him. They had so many crazy adventures growing up! They even snuck into the reactor core chamber and stole some cherry bombs from the Engineer's tool box! Then later on after Anthony and John passed the G.O.A.T test they both went into Security. Anthony never strived much in school or in work for that matter. But John he got straight As in school and was only tardy when sick or when school was closed for rainy days. But that was one time when someone set off the fire suppression system (Probably Zach he's always screwing with John).

Now John met everyone else (Eli Freeman and Sam Vasquez) in Security when he started his first day on the force. John was a little shy at first but got to know the guys with Anthony's help and finally crawled out of his shell.

After finishing his tofu and carrots and stood up walking out of the cafeteria and into the corridor. He quickly snapped a look at his Pip-boy to catch the time. It was about 8:30.

Pip-Boys are super computers that are miniaturized to fit on your wrist. Everyone in Vault 42 had one it helped with people's jobs; it stored audio and written files on the system, it connected to your eyesight to give you a 'Head-Up-Display' or HUD, and finally a targeting system known as VATS. VATS allowed you to target an individual limb with any weapon be it Melee, firearm, or fists. VATS and the HUD were strictly used for security purposes only and were locked to other vault residents unless they were deputized. They also had an automatic Inventory sorter that counted money and sorted anything else you were carrying. John would never know how that works.

John entered the male dormitory of the vault and entered his room.

It was a modest room with a standard grey sheet on his bed. On his bed side stand was a lamp. His desk on the far side of his room held a book atop of it. It's title: Firearms for fools. The cover showed a man holding a pistol, scratching his head, with a speech bubble saying 'How do I gun?' Everything else on his desk was scattered papers and his terminal that glowed a sickly green comparable to cartoony radioactive goop.

John stripped down to his undergarments and plopped down on his bed leaving his security barding on the floor. He shut hid eyes and quickly fell asleep.

John dreamed about a girl. Not a girl he knew something his mind had conjured up. Her hair was as purple as well as purple as John had ever seen. Her skin was pale white almost like a ghost as if she never went outside (Or never went into the ultraviolet generators in the vault). Her hair was braded into a ponytail; her eyes were as blue as sapphires. She wore a dress adorned with sparkling jewels. She and John were dancing in a fancy ballroom that sparkled all around them a song was playing as they danced….

_Blue Moon you saw me standing alone. Without a dream in my heart. Without a love of my own._

_Blue moon…._

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! **An alarm sounded throughout the vault. John arose with a jolt.

"What the hell?" He muttered as he slapped on his Vault Jumpsuit from his dresser.

He opened the door to find a young man in a Vault jumpsuit (John thought his name was Alex) firing his 10mm pistol down the hallway.

"What are you doing?"

Alex was about to answer but his vault suit became riddled with holes and they started spurting blood. Alex fell to the floor with an unmindful look in his eyes he was dead.

John ducked and rolled into the hallway grabbing the pistol as he rolled. He fired the gun into the attacker that killed Alex.

The man was roughly as tall as John he had a spiky hair-do and his face was covered with crusted dirt and blood. He was barely dressed his 'armor' was nothing more than a thin sheet of metal over his shoulders that connected to his tattered pants which were nothing more than mudded pants that were degraded to nothing more than rags. If looks could kill this man would slaughter an entire city. He held a military grade assault rifle that even from this far looked like it was falling apart after too much usage.

John entered VATS and targeted the man's torso and head and blasted him with the pistol. Both shots were dead on and the gruesome man fell to the ground; dropping the assault rifle.

The man was dead but that was okay in John's eyes. He looked behind the dead man. 3 more bloodied bodies followed in his wake.

"Dammit!" John cursed unable to save them.

He stepped over the corpse and along the female dormitory wall. 6 more bodies. He continued walking he heard more gunshots erupting from the cafeteria. John rushed into the room.

6 more dirty characters with weapons of equal condition of the man he killed back in the dormitory. These men were fighting most of the security task force who were off duty at the time including Leonard Jones, Sam, and Eli.

One of the ruffians had a shotgun. He charged up in front of Leonard wacked him in the face and shot him in the head. His braincase exploded leaving blood and gore everywhere including a few brain chunks on John's face.

John's instincts took over as he tackled the hooligan and forced the shotgun out of his hands and shot him in the face; his head burst like a balloon and the floor was flooded with blood and gore.

He quickly entered VATS and targeted 3 of the others' heads and fired. 2 shots hit and the murderers tumbled to the floor but the third shot missed and hit the bandit's shoulder. VATS was out of energy so John looked down the sights and shot the man in the chest. The last two had already finished off Sam and Eli was on the ground with a shot in the leg and in the chest his Vault suit was covered in a crimson fluid.

"NO!" John exclaimed as he entered the now recharged VATS and gunned down the remaining 2 of those murdering men.

He went over to Eli's side and kneeled down.

"What the hell is happening?" John asked his dying friend.

"These SOBs blew a hole, right through the east side of the Vault." Eli coughed twice. "They gunned down the men over there and saved some of the women; killed them when they were done. Since then they've killed more than half the vault. We tried to stop them before they got to the west dorms but they had more C4 and just blew a damned hole in the wall! Anthony and Williams are holding the fort in Security. Overseer shut down the elevator so the only way to her office is through security. Get to them! Stop…. Stop them….. We can win…."

And John's friend was gone. He would not let him die in vain. He picked up some 10mm ammo off his friends and other downed soldiers and sprinted to security. Along the way he saw more bodies… Vault's Pipboy technician Lucas was scalped and had passed out from the intense pain, Billy the Vault's head chef's arm was blown off by what John deduced was a rocket launcher by the scorch marks and damage to the wall, and worst of all was Royce who was nailed to a wall and it seemed as though he was tortured by being cut by a hot knife which cauterized it immediately. Others were killed by dismemberment, blasted to bits, even Disintegrated.

John finally made it to security. Williams and Anthony were slaughtered. Williams was burned to death by a flamethrower his pistol melted into an unusable form. Anthony was shot by an Assault rifle. Anthony; John's life long friend was gone and so was everyone else he held dear. Dozens of raiders were killed as they tried to attack Williams and Anthony. They had not gone quietly into the night they fought and took out many of there enemies.

He looked over to the cell where the Overseer's son was trapped forced to watch the raiders as they burned Williams alive. But at least little Joseph was alive although wounded mentally.

John opened the cell. Joseph shook traumatized in the corner.

"It's all right Jo. It's me."

"They…..They burned him and killed him." He quivered.

"I know." John grabbed another pistol from Williams' desk and handed it to Joseph.

"Find anyone alive get them out of here. The vault's breached and it'll be much safer out there lead them away. Get any weapons you can and arm everyone. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes sir!" Joseph did a shaky salute and ran off.

John snuck into the Overseer's office. Beverly lay on the floor unconscious or dead. Over by the elevator was a raider who was well armed. He had a Gatling Laser and combat armor. Etched on his chest plate was 'Gatling Lazer Ramsey'. He was surrounded by other raiders wielding an assortment of weapons from assault rifles to shotguns and one even had a flamer.

"So Geoff now that we have this Vault what exactly are we going to do with it?" The raider with the flamer asked Lazer Ramsey.

"You idiot. We get paid from the head honcho. We're not securing this place for us but the man who paid us to come here you dumb shit. And it beats us getting sold to the Ann Arbor trade or killed by the Enclave."

John didn't understand what the 'Enclave' or the 'Ann Arbor trade' meant but their plans didn't seem too nice.

Beverly opened her eyes and saw John. She rolled him a grenade. A _grenade_!

John got the point and lobbed it over the Overseer's desk and underneath Geoff 'Gatling Lazer' Ramsey.

"What the fu-" All of the raiders exploded into blood strewn paste and meaty chunks.

"John." Beverly rasped. "The age of the Vault is over. Get anyone left out of here it's no longer safe."

"Everyone else is already gone. Joseph led them out of here."

"Then go..." She coughed and wheezed obviously taken a beating and a round or two. "Knowing Joseph he led them a long way from here. Joseph may not have looked it but he was going to replace me one day. I was the same way as he was. I hated my father for one day giving me the responsibility of the entire damned Vault. He knows what's best. Knowing him everyone else is armed and long gone from here. You can make your own path out there now. But do me one favor"

"Yes?"

"Make these damn bastards pay."

She stood up on the floor was a pool of blood. She grabbed the gaping hole in her chest and waddled over to her terminal and typed something into it.

"I've unlocked the Vault door and access elevator. The vault will shut down after you leave. I'm not leaving here."

"Don't say that Beverly."

"I…. They shot me they beat me. I'm not fit for out there. I've seen what's out there when I was a little girl when they first opened the vault. These raiders are the least of the trials you'll face out there. In my safe there's a special 10mm pistol and some ammo. That pistol was passed down from the first overseer. It's called Morning Glory. This gun has been passed from Overseer to Overseer since the war. Care for it as an heirloom. Besides the gun there's a backpack with money, water, and ammo. Take it all you'll need it."

John now stood in the Vault airlock. He had Morning glory holstered in his jumpsuit and the backpack was filled with everything else.

Morning Glory was a 10mm pistol which was painted a dull grey color on the butt and had a dark purple coloring on the barrel. On the butt was the symbol of a lightning bolt striking away from a thundercloud.

The vault door slid open and John stepped out.

The vault had been built into a barn which had since decayed away in the years following the war. Behind him the steel door of Vault 42 sealed forever and John was now alone in a world that was nothing but brown and black soot.

**Footnote: Character stats**

**_John Martin_**

**_Level One_**

**_Strength: 6_**

**_Perception: 4_**

**_Endurance: 7_**

**_Charisma: 5_**

**_Intelligence: 8_**

**_Agility: 5_**

**_Luck: 5_**

**_Skills_**

**_Barter: 16_**

**_Big Guns 20_**

**_Energy Weapons 14_**

**_Explosives 14_**

**_■Lockpick 29_**

**_Medicine 22_**

**_Melee 18_**

**_Repair 22_**

**_Science 22_**

**_■Small Guns 31_**

**_Sneak 16_**

**_Speech 16_**

**_■Unarmed 35_**

**_Perks:_**

**_Vault Life: Your life in the Vault has given you some skills most others would find egg headish. Your science, repair, and Lockpick are raised by 10._**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for waiting! I am in need of a new editor so if you want to be my editor contact me at the Master Derek Facebook page or PM me. Whatever just please I need an editor.**

**Chapter 2**

The large steel door of Vault 42 closed with a hiss. John was standing in the middle of a whine cellar that had severly deteriated and rotted away. There was a light at the end of the cellar past all of the rotting wood. He climbed the stairs and stood in what looked liked the rotted out reminants of an acient barn. John walked outside and found a spot to sit on the greyed grass.

John sat there for sometime, gathering his thoughts. The overseer was right; Joseph had led the remaining dwellers away from here. John hadn't ran into any of them left, but he had the feeling he should be heading into the western distance.

John scouted the area. The grass out here was unlike any he had studied in school. Out here the ground was covered in soot, hardly anything grew; only scorched trees which had long fallen over and crumbled away. There was plenty of buildings dotting the wasteland. John saw little settlements, decaying suburban neighborhoods, and most notably downtown Detroit. The city had been rebuilt and a wall had been built around it. Towers inside billowed fumes from factories and the city showed signs of activity. Above it was a blimp. A blimp? The blimp was white and bared a symbol on it: A massive E surrounded by stars. It hovered over the metropolitan city and circled it.

Other features of the wasteland included highways spanning all around the crumpling city of Detroit and a single crater North East of Detroit. It seemed like it was from a nuke from the Great War; scorch marks dotted the region around it.

The sky was not at all like John had seen in school books. Instead of blue it was light yellow like old US documents; like the Declaration of Independence. The clouds were like white stained with yellow and brown dirt.

"Damn." John whispered under his breath surveying the Surface world.

He plopped the backpack on the ground and surveyed its contents. 2 bottles of purified water, a package of Ammo for Morning Glory, and a zipper bag containing pre-war money.

John packed the things back in the backpack and looked down and saw the remains of a small community on the outskirts of a Detroit. The main street had a bunch of boarded up stores and at the end was wreckage closing off that end of the street. But there were other streets branching off. This was the ruins of a commercial district.

John walked down into the ruined street. Most of the stores had boards on there windows that had since begun to rot. The walls also had been painted upon by graffiti artists. Most of it was gang symbols, mushroom clouds, or pornography.

John came across a small family owned grocery store. The door had been smashed open and windows broken and shattered. He creaked open the door and peered inside.

The place had been ransacked already. The shelves had been knocked over and any food had been looted. The fridges that had once held pop and water had been shattered and salvaged. But the cash register had not been opened.

John walked over to it and looked around it. He noticed broken bobby pins and a screw driver near the register. It had clearly been beaten as it showed abuse from hammers but it never budged.

Now John knew a thing about lock picking. Back during his teenage years he had learned to do it when he raided the girl's locker room to sneak in and look at the naked girls with Anthony. Ah good times.

He looked around for a bobby pin and found one in a drawer underneath the cash register. John grabbed the screw driver and went to work on the lock. He bent the bobby pin in a 90 degree angle and inserted it into the lock and applied torque using the screw driver. After a couple of tries the lock gave and the register opened. Inside were 5 Pre-War bills, 2 bobby pins and 7 Nuka-Cola bottle caps. Why the bottle caps in there; John had no idea but he took them never the less.

John exited the store and walked down the street passed all of the looted stores to the wall of debris blocking the path ahead.

This wall was composed of wooden boards, billboards, and large chunks of concrete. It was obviously crafted not just random refuse. But John didn't have time for solving the mystery of random walls. No! He had to gather more supplies.

John peered down at his Pipboy. It had marked the area he was in as well as the Vault. Apparently John was in the Livonia market district. He shrugged and walked down Cheyenne street.

The road led to a medium sized single story building. The building had long since crumbled away. It was mostly concrete at one point. A double door was at its entrance. The glass had been broken out of it. John examined the faded sign in front of the building. 'Smithing Firearms' was the name of the facility; A weapon production plant.

"Ammo." John said under his breath.

He kicked open the door and entered the building. He was greeted by a degraded robot receptionist.

"Hellooooo, sirrrrrrr." The robot sparked.

"Hello, I guess. I would like to browse your stock."

"To your right is our public pzzt…..errrrrrrrr." The robot sparked and fell over.

"Vandalism detected." A disembodied male voice said in the ceiling. "Eradicating tresspasser."

2 turrets dropped from the ceiling. There ammo spun up and began to fire at John.

"Dammit!" He brought Morning Glory up and shot the first turret. The round bounced off the casing.

The bullets struck his jump suit and he spurted blood from his wounds.

"Gah!" He yelled as he entered VATS and targeted the turret's targeting mechanism. The round cut through the circuit and began to fire at the other turret.

The second turret exploded in sparks and debris was strewn all about the room. The other turret spun erratically and fired as it did. A few more rounds from Morning Glory finished it off.

The reception area had 2 doors on either side one was marked 'Market' and the other 'Employees only'. Of course being the way John was he was curious and entered the 'Employees only' section first. It led into a hallway with doors all along it.

The left side of the hall had collapsed. The right hall had a few rusted doors along the sides.

The first was marked 'Weapons design' and below that writing was 'Robert Wert'.

John twisted the knob on the door and pushed it open. It was merely an office with a nice wooden desk that was probably better before it was charred like it is now. On it was an intact terminal.

'How did that terminal survive the war?' John thought.

John went over to the glowing green terminal and looked at it. It was pass code locked. Back in the Vault John had learned to hack when Anthony wanted to know if Rebecca had STDs he needed to worry about. Anthony….

John went to work on the terminal loading it to his Pipboy and uploading the Rob-tech hacking code to the terminal. He quickly searched for the correct pass code. The password was "Taint".

The Terminal contained a variety of Journal entries by Robert Wert; the lead weapons designer for Smithing firearms.

**Entry 1**

**Jones wants me to design some improved version of the 10mm for his wife Kaitlin. Turns out she got accepted into that Vault up the road but he didn't. Poor bastard. Anyway he wants something to have her remember him by if the Vaults do seal up. If not he'll give it to her for their anniversary. Anyway I started designing it initial specs look good. It has increased accuracy and ammo capacity. I haven't thought of a name. Jones wanted to be a name of a flower. Whatever.**

**Entry 2**

**The boss just got a big military contract designing energy weapons for the military. They opened up a second factory just for it downtown. But production here has increased as people want more guns in case the commies invade. I don't blame them. Anyway still trying to come up for a name for that gun. The blood rose? Orchid of death? Flaming petunia? I dunno.**

**Entry 3**

**Boss came down hard on all of us. Henderson got caught shooting up on duty. Called a staff meeting. Henderson got fired. He said it was Wartime Stress Disorder. What the hell is Wartime Stress Disorder? Anyway after the meeting I found some time to start building Jones' gun. I called it Morning Glory. Sounded patriotic enough. I won't have time to update any of these logs. I'll be transferred out to Detroit to design some energy weapons. Something special called a LAER. Well this is Robert Wert signing off.**

John now had a little back story of the gun he used. Jones' wife must have been the first overseer of Vault 42 200 years ago. Talk about bad luck.

John downloaded the specs for Morning Glory in case he needed to fix it. He then proceeded down the hall and came across the second door to the left marked 'CEO' underneath that was the faded name of 'Jacob Lee'. He slowly twisted the knob and found another office.

The desk here was much fancier than Wert's. For one it was not as charred. It seemed like a wood stain that was lacking on the other desk had preserved it longer. It was covered in old moldy financial reports and other such paper work that had no meaning today.

Lee's terminal had rusted and gone offline years ago. But the desk contained some objects of worth. A couple packs of Cigarettes. John didn't smoke but he could probably sell them if there was some sort of economy out here. There were a few rusted caps in the top drawer. John didn't know why but he had an urge to collect these rusted trinkets. Start a collection perhaps?

In the middle drawer had a key ring in it. John decided it would come in handy in case of locked doors.

John checked the bathrooms and found a couple of medical kits that had some Stimpacks, 2 tins of Mentats, and some bandages. He walked down the hall to the last door in the hallway marked 'manufacturing' in black letters.

He opened the door and on the other side was a room containing numerous work benches with incomplete guns on them. The floor was littered with skeletons of the workers. In the center of the room was a strange device.

The robot had a domed head with a brain within it. It rolled on treads and had waving tube hands with claws.

"Prime directive: protect firearms from communist infiltrators!" The robot said in an electronic female voice.

It raised its tube arms and opened its claws and fired lasers at John. A beam struck John in the leg and he collapsed to the floor grasping his burning leg.

"DAMNIT!" John entered VATS while crouching and targeted the brain bot's brain.

He fired 3 rounds and the machine's brain case exploded and chunks of brain matter were strewn about the room. Suddenly four more laser turrets dropped from the ceiling.

"Damn laser turrets!" John exclaimed as he rolled to the side underneath a work bench.

The turrets continued to fire at the workbench creating scorch marks up and down the surface.

Underneath the table John brushed against a skeleton who had ducked under the table when the bombs fell as he fled the turrets.

The skeleton had rotted and burned as time taken its toll. In its withered hands was a weapon but not that of any weapon John had seen before. Its barrel was shaped that of a box and the sights were merely a bump on the box shaped barrel. On the top was some sort of oddly shaped battery: a laser pistol.

He plucked the strange weapon from the skeleton's clutches. John's HUD told him that it had 6 shots left in its energy cell.

John had read about energy weapons in future weapons today. He knew about enough to know which end the laser came out but not much more.

He rolled out of his protective cover and armed VATS and targeted the turrets' targeting modules. John being unskilled as he is missed the first shot and hit the ceiling. Second shot missed the targeting module and hit the turret's laser gun. The turret's weapon malfunctioned and detonated. What Luck!

John turned VATS to the second turret and after 2 more shots the turret shattered but so did his gun….

"DAMN IT ALL!"

The final two turrets rotated to finish John off but he unloaded a clip of Morning Glory into the two of them. That shut em down.

"Ow." John said simply with a groan as he injected a stimpack he found in the bathroom.

He then proceeded to search the room. 5 assault rifles, 10 10mm pistols, 7 SMGs, and 8 hunting rifles; all of them unfinished and unusable. John also found an intact Vault-Tec bobblehead inside of a locked ammunition box. The bobblehead was of Vault-Tec's mascot the Vault boy holding a pistol. The inscription read 'Because it's easier to have courage when from a safe distance away.' Vault-Tec were some crazy folks.

Eh hobbies are hobbies. John might as well add collecting bobbleheads to collecting rusty caps.

John threw the stuff into his backpack and let his Pipboy automatic inventory sorter handle it.

He also snagged a couple of Nuka-Colas from the Employees lounge.

Now John stood in the lobby once again. Looking at the damaged robot that had triggered the troublesome security turrets. He kicked the robot and it sparked from its glowing eyes.

He then entered the door opposite to the Employees only section and was greeted to an arms store. This section had been raided quite thoroughly leaving only a locked safe and a locked gun locker. John worked his magic on the safe. He was surprised no one else in the wasteland was skilled in lockpicking as well as he was.

The safe finally opened after 3 tries. Its contents contained multiple packages of ammo; 10mm, 9mm, 5mm, even 5 50 caliber rounds as well as a strange grenade. It had a glowing blue disk atop of a metal casing with many wires. John shrugged and gathered the loot in his backpack.

John then plunged his bobby pin into the gun locker. It was much more difficult than any other lock he had encountered. The bobby pin actually broke! John fished out the busted bobby pin and used another he found in the cash register at the grocery store. After 5 more failed tries he finally cracked the lock.

Inside was a drum fed shotgun that looked to be designed for military purposes. John had seen raiders use this kind of shotgun but those weapons were in such bad condition that John passed them up. But this one was in pristine condition although it needed a good cleaning because it was covered with 200 years worth of dust.

John grabbed the weapon and checked the drum. Empty.

"I CURSE YOUR BABY!" John swore not knowing where that phrase came from.

Luckily there was a box of shells in the locker so John after giving the gun a quick cleaning knowing proper gun maintenance loaded it with the shells from the locker.

John took one last peak in the safe and found a pair of sunglasses with a note attached.

_Happy Birthday Kevin. I'm sorry I couldn't get that BB gun you wanted. But here are some sunglasses that I had custom made._

_Love you, Dad_

John found it sad that Kevin never got his birthday present due to the bombs dropping and killing everyone, Poor kid. But now John had a kick ass pair of shades.

John donned the 'Authority glasses' as his Pipboy labeled them and got out of Smithing firearms. John always loves good shades.

John walked down the street passed more abandoned shops and boarded up houses. He walked west away from Detroit into the countryside. Passed many decaying cars that were rusting away onto highway 96. The farms of the countryside had withered into nothing but grey desert.

Suddenly John heard gunfire and screams; Screams of innocents.

John sprinted in the direction of the screams and came across a group of raiders beating a young girl and stabbing a bearded man. It seemed as though it was a supply caravan that was ambushed. Supplies were scattered everywhere and the cart was overturned and ablaze.

"NO, NO, NO! NOT IN MY WASTELAND!" John screamed as he charged at the raiders.

He brought his shotgun up and blew the head of the raider beating the girl into a cloud of steaming blood and brain chunks. He targeted the second raider with VATS and blew a few more holes in his chests than there was when he was injecting himself with drugs. He drew his sidearm and filled the rest of the group's heads full of holes. 1 by one the raiders fell and died. John pulled a clip from Morning Glory and slapped in a new one.

"Thank you stranger." The bearded man said. "How ever can we repay you?"

"I have no need of pay. Though some information of the wastes would be nice."

"You're a vault dweller?" The woman asked.

"Used to be."

"Oh, well no matter. I'll be happy to tell you about the wasteland."

"Thanks."

The man told John about the Wasteland. There were major factions and history. The biggest faction was the Enclave who owned Detroit. They were the remnants of the United States government and have secured a sizable region around the Northwest Territories. They were currently working to repair the wasteland to the US's former glory. Good luck with that.

There were many people who opposed the Enclave like Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor was the slaving capital of the region. Seriously slavery? It was run by a man named Slavery Joe. Seriously? He had a personal vendetta against the Enclave and few people remember why. Shows how observant people of the wastes are. But Ann Arbor is a fortress now so yeah….

Then there is a little group called Antwanicous's Legion. The Legion was once raiders and tribals that were conquered by Antwanicous Bolinicous III. This guy wants to take over everything and destroy the Enclave. Most people hate them but they aren't around Detroit that often. They're more active in West Michigan.

There were many others that the man who John came to know as Ben told him. But he didn't remember anything about them.

So Enclave, Ann Arbor, and the Legion. Simple enough.

Ben also told John of the great currency of the wasteland.

"Bottlecaps?"

"Yep. May seem weird but people before the war collected them so it kinda caught on."

Ben told John about the many dangers of the wastes such as radiation and how to know which type of water was radioactive. But John had a Geiger counter in his Pipboy.

"Thanks Ben."

"Your welcome. Hey if you plan on heading east stop by Livonia. It's the biggest trading outpost for miles! You could sell all of that junk you've collected."

"Thanks I'll keep that in mind."

"I didn't catch your name." Ben said as he packed up his gear.

"My name's John. John Martin."

"Well John, see you around."

"I hope so."

After Ben packed whatever wasn't destroyed by the raiders he headed back out East back into the ruins that he had looted earlier.

John continued to walk the opposite direction to the west. Down the highway. Further away from Detroit more stuff was just plain dust. Dead grass and grey sand was all that was along side of Highway 96. On the road was nothing but decaying cars and skeletons of people who tried to flee when the bombs fell. Some of the skeletons were melted into their seats and had been for over two hundred years and it showed as well. Suddenly a large animal jumped over one of the cars and landed in front of John. It snarled as it readied an attack.

It had tusks and its fur had been in patches while the rest of its grey skin was covered in sores. It looked like a hairless hog. VATS had marked it as a 'Radhog'. How his Pipboy knew all this stuff he had no idea; probably some excellent programming.

He targeted the radhog and fired 3 rounds from Morning Glory into the poor creature's head. It fell to the ground dead and limp its huge black eyes still open.

John knowing all well that it was survival of the fittest in the wastes; he cut open the beast and gutted it. He cut some strips of meat and put it in his backpack.

He continued walking. Off to the south was a massive fortress. Factories belched fumes into the air and the whole place reeked of despair. This must have been Ann Arbor.

John scooted quickly passed the city.

About 2 miles later he encountered a lone house. It was decayed but still standing. A nice place to stay the night as the blazing white sun went down over the horizon.

He approached the door. Locked. Of course it was locked. He picked a bobby pin out of his utility belt and inserted it into the door lock. Click. The door opened.

Everything within the house was covered in a thick layer of dust. The couch was rotted away. The TV set was broken and a thick layer of grey dirt covered the floor. but the only thing he heard in the house was a masculine voice.

He ascended the stairs that led from the living room to the second floor. Upstairs was a hallway and on the floor was a radio and it was playing.

"Still no word from Outpost 17-B. Any patrols we send out that way have not come back. Probably raiders. Tune in next time for the news! Now here's Dean Martin with Money Burns a Hole in My Pocket."

The voice stopped and music began to play. REAL music. Not the dumb background music from the Vault. It was slow song but still a good one.

But wait. Active Radio stations? John checked the radio tab in his Pipboy and sure enough there was 'Enclave News Radio' right there. He picked some earphones out of his pocket and began to listen to music right from his Pipboy. He turned off the radio and carried it downstairs. He noticed another door behind the TV.

It led to a bedroom with a single mattress. It seemed that the house had been used before John showed up. The mattress wasn't moldy it was only dirty. Better than nothing.

John laid down on the dirty mattress and he set down his backpack next to the mattress. He kept Morning Glory holstered in case some raiders bumped in the night. And he laid down finally and got some rest after a long day.

'I killed them.' John thought. 'How many people have I killed today?'

The raiders in the Vault and the raiders that had attacked the caravan. How many people were dead because of me?

"They deserved to die." Said a battle hardened wastelander. "Raiders are murderers, thieves, and rapists all in one convenient package."

'But what makes them different than me.'

"You care enough to stop them. You care enough to be good."

'I'm security it's what I do.'

"You're different from the raiders. You fight not because it's fun but because you care enough to stop those atrocities."

'But…'

"No butts. You get out there and keep doing what you've been doing."

'Wait who are you?'

"I am a figment of your imagination."

John awoke with a jolt. Light poured though cracks in the house. It was morning it was time to take the fight to the raiders. John grabbed his backpack and headed out the door.

After walking back towards the city of Detroit John made it to the strange wall of refuse he had seen earlier. It had actually been the entrance to Livonia. Well…

"Halt stranger!" A man yelled from above him. "State your business in Livonia."

"I am John Martin. One of the few survivors of Vault 42. I've come to find the whereabouts of a group of raiders."

"What for?"

"To put them down."

"Ok. Welcome to Livonia."

The gate made out of garbage lifted up and revealed a semi-restored street. Shops, apartments, homes, even a city hall.

"You'll find the information you need from Timothy. He's the sheriff here. He's in the city hall."

"Thank you, sir."

"My pleasure to help anyone willing to clear away them raiders. But keep mind we'll be watching you. You make any sudden weapon draws. You'll be brought into custody or what counts as custody. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good. Then welcome to Livonia."

John walked passed many shops. Med shops, food, guns, energy weapons, even a small Enclave shop had been set up that sold food and guns. The food in the Enclave shop unlike the ones at the privately owned food shops was fresh. It was grown in green houses and farms.

John entered the 'City Hall' which was once the 'Wilhelm Pharmacy'. It had been converted into a two story City Hall with the Counter being the Sheriff's office and upstairs was the mayor's office. John went over to see Sheriff Pablo Hernandez.

"Hello, stranger." Sheriff Hernandez said.

"Hi, I'm John Martin."

"Ah, you must be the one who saved Ben. Word's been going around town. Here a little thank you from the town of Livonia." The sheriff handed John a bag of 25 caps.

"Thanks. So uh I was wondering if you could point me in some raiders."

"Raiders? Well there is quite a few in Franklin High but you should really talk to the mayor."

The sheriff led John upstairs into the second floor of the city hall into a makeshift mayor's office. Sitting behind a desk that was charred like the desk at Smithing was a man with gray hair that was balding. His mustache was that you would see in the old western movies. A gunslinger.

"Hello friend and welcome to Livonia!" He said in the friendliest voice he could.

"Hi I'm looking for a group of raiders that may have been linked with a man named Geoff Ramsey."

"You're thinking of ol' Gatling Lazer Ramsey. He went west a day or so ago. Haven't seen him since. But his pack of raiders is still at Franklin High. I'll pay you 100 caps to flush em out."

"Deal."

John and the mayor shook hands.

"Oh where are my manners? I'm Freddie Kimball. Mayor of Livonia. One of the biggest towns in this region."

"Can you tell me about the other places around here?"

There are many communities in this area but the largest is probably the core of Detroit: Downtown. A while ago these guys in planes back in my youngin days took over that place and built a wall around it. Them be the Enclave; a bunch of folks willing to restore America to its former glory. Now don't go writing them off as bad because of them stories of the nasty Enclave that tried to wipe out everyone out east and west. Them were some ragtag group…..."

The man went on to tell John about some of the other communities around Livonia and about Livonia itself. Livonia was a large trading hub where people brought food, guns, junk, and whatever else to be sold and traded for caps, food, and ammo. Some of the other towns around Detroit included Warren and Southfield. Warren was still radioactive because a bomb had struck near there and Southfield was a large town and was said to be the largest independent town out there. Mostly because of less fallout and they had a working water purifier.

Livonia got there water from water caravans from the Enclave. Enclave caravans would stop by Livonia to trade water for Energy weapons, adequate condition guns, and armor. Besides Detroit the Enclave had set out stations 1-3 miles around the armored city center. Most people never head into Downtown because the Enclave requires you to buy an Enclave passport for a hefty price of 2,000 caps. But you could then apply for a citizenship and become a full citizen of the Enclave. But most people's applications are denied so many just go and gamble at the Patriot's Glory Casino.

"Okay thank you for the information Mayor Kimball. Do you think you could mark the raider base on my Pipboy?"

"Sure." John held out his Pipboy in front of the mayor. Kimball tapped the green map on the location of the raider fort.

"Thank you."

"Really, a school?" John said to himself as he approached Franklin high school.

Before John left Livonia he sold some of his junk he found in his travels and bought more ammo for Morning Glory, his shotgun, and he bought some water.

The high school was still standing but not much more than that. A section of the building had collapsed and it was repaired with sheet metal and plywood. All of the windows were boarded up and nearly every inch of the school was defaced with vulgar graffiti. This was definitely a raider base.

John loaded a drum into his shotgun and cocked it.

John went up to the rotten door and kicked it down. 3 raiders were gathered around a mutilated corpse eating strange meat. John did not hesitate to blow these fools apart with his shotgun. He looted any remaining ammo and weapons off of them. Not surprisingly all of the weapons had been poorly maintained.

Suddenly 2 raiders with energy weapons came down the hall and into the lobby. They fired at John. The laser shots burned John's legs.

"DAMNIT I HATE LASER BURNS." John said as he switched to Morning Glory.

He shot the raiders as he fell to the floor his leg severely burned. Then of course a large group of maybe 20 or more raiders converged into the lobby.

"Well, well, well; if it isn't the little bitch that killed Geoff." One of them said as he readied some sort of concoction in a can.

Suddenly the raider's head exploded and brain chunks flew across the room. All of the raiders turned to the figure standing in the doorway. He wore metal armor that covered him all the way to his neck. He held a shotgun similar to John's but it was somehow different. His face was covered with scars that slew across his neck, eyes, and nose. His hair was shaved into a spiky Mohawk that was stained red with the blood of raiders which covered its actual brown color.

He fired his shotgun into the other raiders. Raiders dropped as he fired. Then he pulled out what looked like a battery pack on his back. It connected into a weapon that he held. Suddenly red lasers poured from the weapon and incinerated the raiders. Some died of burns and others poofed into piles of ash.

The room was littered with bloody raider bodies and ashes. The man walked up to John.

"You don't seem like one of them." He picked a 10mm pistol off of his belt. "But you can never be too sure."

**Footnote: Level Up!**

**New Perk added: Intense training**

**+1 to perception **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The man pressed the gun against John's forehead.

"Stand up!" He said. "What is your name?"

John stood up wit his hands on his head and said,"My name's John Martin."

"Why are you here?"

"I was investigating these bastard raiders. They killed my family and my friends."

"You're story checks out." He put the pistol back onto his belt. "You're from Vault 42, right? You're the one who rescued Ben right?"

"Yeah that's me." John replied.

"Well come on. You need to get paid for what you did here."

"But you killed-"

"They're not all dead yet for one." He cocked his shotgun. "And you could use a good practice run in a raider nest. And if you're going to explore the wastes you're gonna need something better to protect you than that old Vault suit. After I give you some wasteland lessons. I'll take you to someone who works magic on Vault suits."

"Wait shouldn't you tell me your name?"

"Oh where are my manors? My name is Dave. Dave Brown. I work around the wasteland clearing out raiders for fun and profit."

"Now make sure you grab ammo and weapons off of Raider corpses."

"Yeah I got it." John replied somewhat agitated by Dave's Wasteland tutorial.

"If you know how to Lock pick…"

"I raided Smithing Firearms and got this." John waved his shotgun. "I know how to Lock pick, hack, run, shoot, and kill! Tell me something I don't know."

"Well how about proper weapons maintenance. Back in the vault you probably had spare parts lying around. Out here you have to take apart similar weapons. Like if you pick up three of those raider shotguns you could repair them using parts from the others. But your shotgun is in quite a nice condition. Where'd you get it?"

"Smithing firearms. It was the only place that wasn't ransacked."

"Smithing? I heard that place still had some sort of fucking security."

"All I can say is 'Goddamn lasers'."

"Yeah…"

The duo of wastelanders walked down the hall of the school admiring the gruesome handiwork of the raiders. Lockers filled with bloodied skulls and guts, pornographic graffiti and mutilated corpses. Lovely.

2 raiders rounded the corner each covered in gore and scars each holding assault rifles.

John slipped into VATS and targeted the raiders' heads with Morning Glory. There brains burst from the other ends of there heads.

Dave searched the remains and tossed the assault rifles to John. John quickly dismantled them and threw together a better one and discarded the pieces.

"You're fast but somewhat sloppy. You'll get the hang of it." Dave said to John.

Dave and John entered a room which seemed to be a loot room filled with ammo and junk. Shelves were lined with junk, ammo, medical supplies, and boxes.

"Here's another lesson. What to take and what not to take. I've heard of those Pipboys auto-assigning value to junk and shit. You never take anything that you're not going to use or it weighs more than it's worth. Take this rusty fork. It weighs oh give or take less than a pound. It's worthless garbage! But guns, cigarettes, chems, ammo, all worth it. Even some junk like sensor modules might be worth it to some people. But I'll let you make those decisions. Also try to haggle when you sell stuff vendors will always try to rip you off."

"Alrighty then." John replied.

John began to loot the shelves and take ammo and stuff for barter. He probably wouldn't be using the Psycho and Jet he found but it was still worth some money err caps as it is in the wasteland. John looked over to a couple fridges.

"Oh yeah take food and alcohol. I've never been big on beer but a little Vodka or Whiskey I've been known to dabble with….. Okay I guess you could say I've gotten drunk every so often."

"Seems like it would help in the wastes with all the death and violence out there."

"Yeah I guess. Livonia has a great bar called the toxic tavern. Great place to drink."

Dave and John looted the raider hive clean. After dispatching a few more raiders and taking there guns, ammo, and caps; they were out of that place. It smelled like urine encrusted corpses which was the case here.

John and Dave made there way back to the lobby where many raider bodies lay from when Dave had slain them earlier. John made his way into the old principal's office.

The room had been filled with red and purple guts. Bodies were strung like mannequins. Most of the bodies were put in sexual positions.

"Ewe." John sneered as he looked around the room.

The desk had a gun on it. It was a Desert Eagle with golden plating. There was an inscription on the side of it though some of the letters were faded. 'Fenado' was all he could make out. Next to it was a holotape with writing on it. 'For Geoff'.

"I've been looking all over for this." Dave picked up the Desert Eagle. "Yeah one day I was walking down the interstate and I saw the remains of a weird plane. Most of it was looted but I opened up a box and there was a weird power armor helmet, which I sold, and this baby. A few days later the plane disappeared. Eh. Not as crazy as some other things in the wastes."

John picked up the holotape and plugged it into his Pipboy. The message downloaded and he discarded the tape. He tapped some buttons on his Pipboy and played the message.

"Hello Geoff. I know you have a hard time reading anything besides your name so I recorded this message for you." A gravelly voice said. "Vault 42 you see. You know it or perhaps not. Even the Enclave doesn't have the coordinates. You are to secure it for me. If it is a success I will reward you with 500 Bottlecaps. If not I will simply find another to do my business. And if you and your friends are alive I will have you all sold to Mr. Joe in Ann Arbor. Yours truly JC."

"Well looks like this isn't over." John muttered.

"What was that?" Dave asked as he loaded some rounds into the golden desert eagle.

"Apparently these raiders are just a smaller portion of the bigger picture. They were hired to bust into my Vault."

"Then what do we do?"

"I don't know. But I'm going to find out."

"Okay. Well I'll show you to Livonia now if you're done here."

"Alrighty then." John said as he followed Dave out.

The walk back to the Livonia was uneventful besides the odd rogue radhog or two. John and Dave had made it back to city hall and they were meeting with the mayor.

"Ah, Dave you're back! I didn't expect you to return." The Mayor seemed genuinely surprised at Dave's arrival.

"Come on Fred, you really didn't expect me to return?"

"The raiders at Franklin High were well armed-"

"Freddie, really? I had a bloody Gatling laser! Although it broke after I saved John here."

"Oh right the other one I sent. I thought you'd need help."

"He went in first because I was performing recon before I went in. But John here just charged right in like a fucking n00b and nearly got his ass filled with raiders. But then I showed up and obliterated them and then me and John double teamed them and ripped them a new one."

"Thank you for the colorful description of your heroic rescue. Well because you both of you returned I will split the reward equally between you."

"With all due respect Mr. Mayor… YOU'RE GONNA GIVE US BOTH THE AMOUNT YOU SAID YOU WOULD OR I WILL BEAT IT OUT OF YOU AND BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN WITH MY EXPLODING LEMONS!" Dave screamed at Mayor Kimball.

"Okay fine. Don't have to get all yelly about it." Mayor Kimball fetched two bags of caps and tossed them to Dave.

"Thanks." He said as he caught the sacs. He tossed one over to John.

"Whelp, see you 'round, mayor."

John followed Dave out of the mayor's office and back down into the lobby. At this time it was getting late it was about 20:46 according to John's Pipboy. The busy trading town was closed and it was bustling down as the residents took shelter in the 'refurbished' buildings for bed. The light from Detroit was ever so illuminating

"Where are you heading, kid?" Dave finally asked.

"I don't know. All I know now is that someone named J.C. is responsible for destroying my home and I'm going to find him, somehow."

"You need any help? Seeing as though you're a darned Vault Dweller and it's only been 2 days since you got out of the Vault. Vault dwellers don't know shit about the wastes."

"Why would you help me?"

"For one I have nothing else to do. Two, like I said Vault dwellers don't know nothing. Three, well I've always been a lone wolf. On more than one occasion I've been nearly killed, raped, maimed, and tortured. I need someone to watch my back just as much as you need someone to watch yours."

"Sure I guess."

"Awesome I'll show you to my place."

"This is my place!" Dave presented his house.

His house was a sheet metal shack about a mile west from Livonia. The roof, walls, and floor were made of glued; duct taped, and nailed together sheets of rusted sheet metal. The door was actually a door from a house that was now hinged onto the metal shack. In front of the house was a 'lawn' of many nicknacks Dave had hauled in from the wastes like lawn gnomes and those obnoxiously pink flamingos that John had read about in a book somewhere. He even had a giddy-up buttercup that he had painted flaming bunnies on it and wired its eyes to glow red. At the far end of the yard were two old power lines which Dave had tied Christmas lights to and they glowed as he hooked them up to a generator.

"That's a very colorful yard ya got there." John commented as he looked at the Christmas lights.

"Thanks, I had a lot of time on my hands between killing off raiders. Did a lot of scaving in those times and found plenty of kick-ass stuff come check it out!"

Dave led John into the shack. It was completely empty minus a bed and an odd hunk of metal.

"You see that there. That's my security guard. Rigged a laser tripline with some junk I got from this place down Ohio way. Rigged this here Mr. Gutsy to kill anyone who trips it." He smacked the odd hunk of metal which is apparently a robot.

"How do you not trip it?"

"Got a key that turns it off and on. Pretty neat. But this isn't truly where I live."

"It's not?"

"Nope." Dave reached down under the mattress and pressed a hidden button that was located under the not-to-impressive bed that was in this shack.

The floor opened up into a stairwell that led downward into an underground maintenance access.

"Now I don't normally let people into my house but in my journeys I've heard of Vault dwellers doing great things like this one guy I knew out east he was a vault dweller and he went on to do some stuff like beat up some enclave peeps and activated some giant water purifier. And most people have heard the story of the Vault Dweller out west. Beating a bunch of mutants and stuff."

"How far have you journeyed?"

"Son, I've journeyed from sea to shining sea. Me, an ex slave, and an enclave reject walked all across the US. I've seen whats out there like out west it's pretty organized but out east it's a total shit hole well it's a little better since Ethan; the Lone Wanderer brought clean water there but yeah Northwest territories is the largest most organized region out there. I mean I've been to Vegas but the Enclave got it going. I've got nothing against them but they got some pretty high standards and don't let just any waster in and that I just can't stand for."

Dave then proceeded to lead John down the stairwell and into the maintenance ways.

"This used to be some sort of private bunker of some millionaire before the war. He funded it because he was quite sure that the war would end bad. Sure fucking enough not 3 days after completion the bombs fell and he was out of town or something and died. His fucking mansion was blown away by the war and it was refuse when I got here the first time and when I came back years later the rubble was nothing but dust and then I wired the bunker to open and built a shack on it. Been here since."

The stairwell ended at a metal door. Dave hit a button and it opened revealing a corridor filled with items on shelves. Guns, toys, swords, pictures, data tapes, and many other items.

"I used this place to store cool stuff. I don't just survive out here. I thrive! All of this stuff I found across the US and paid it to be hauled to my old place in Indiana. I here that place got better since the Enclave took the steel mills. Was a shithole when I first got there."

John noticed that these weapons were not unique but actually factory models of weapons like a combat shotgun, an assault rifle, an anti-material rifle, and basically any gun out there he had some ones he threw together and made them perfect so he decided to throw them up on the shelf.

The hallway led to another metal door which Dave opened and revealed a central room with 3 other doors branching off of it.

"To the left you'll have my bedroom where I keep my bed, some lava lamps, and a jukebox. Oh, also I sleep there. To the right you'll have the kitchen. I have 3 fridges filled with food, water, and booze. Feel free to have some food and water. Find your own damn booze."

"I don't drink. Never took kindly to the stuff."

"Pussie. Anyway in front of you you'll have the vault. Not a Vault-tec vault but it used to have money and gold in it. Cleaned that out and put guns in there. Ha! Ha! No need for pre-war cash or money anymore. Sold it to the enclave they pay caps for pre-war cash.; well they pay for any paper they be printing books and stuff like recycling and shit."

"This is a nice set up you got. I mean a whole bunker full of stuff and a bunker just all by itself is rare. Tell me how did you get your combat skills?"

"That's something I'm not gonna get into. There's a spare bed in the Vault. Go to sleep."

And with that Dave went into his bedroom.

"Well that was... Odd."

John was standing in a suburban neighborhood before the war. It was stereotypical land of suburbia. Kids were playing in the sprinklers. It was a magnificent sunny day. The sun rays were bouncing off the crazy nuclear powered cars they had back then. The sun here felt more natural than it did in the wasteland. Everyone was happy as can be.

Suddenly John heard a whirring noise. The sound of planes.

He looked above and saw hundreds of Chinese bombers in the skies. The children kept playing but a few adults looked up.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash as if the sun had fallen from the sky and landed on earth. The sound that followed pierced the air as if someone had crashed a car into Vault 42's reactor.

The sky turned red and on the horizon appeared the symbolic mushroom cloud that is synonymous with nuclear detonations. Suddenly the suburban paradise became ablaze with fire. All of the people adults and children alike turned into charred silhouettes as the world burned around them.

Another flash of light and a second mushroom cloud appeared just as the shock wave hit and the houses blew away like they were wet toilet paper. And the people flew apart like leaves blowing in the wind. Paradise had fallen and had been plunged into a dark world called the wasteland.

**Footnote level up**

**New Perk added Shotgun Surgeon: Your precision with a scatter gun is something to behold. When using shotguns you ignore an additional to points of a target's damage threshold. **

**Companion Perk: Wanderer's Charm: When Dave is with you you'll have a +1 to Charisma and a 10% boost to Small Guns, unarmed, and Big Guns.**

**Author's notes: I'm so sorry about the delay. Editing and reediting. New editors. Editors quiting. Lack of internet. But anyway here is chapter 3. I hope you liked it. Please comment and leave feedback please. I'm open to suggestions, ideas, and thoughts.**


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